Life One Great Ritual by Philip James Baily

Life One Great Ritual 

by Philip James Bailey

And as the vesper hymn of Time precedes
The starry matins of Eternity
And daybreak of existence in the Heavens,–
To know this, is to know we shall depart
Into the storm-surrounding calm on high,
The sacred cirque, the all-central infinite
Of that self-blessedness wherein abides
Our GOD, all kind, all loving, all beloved;-
To feel life one great ritual, and its laws
Writ in the vital rubric of the blood,
Flow in obedience and flow out command,
In sealike circulation; and be here
Accepted as a gift by Him, who gives
An empire as an alms, nor counts it aught,
So long as all His creatures joy in Him,
The great Rejoicer of the Universe,
Whom all the boundless spheres of Being bless.

Classic Angelic Banners

      Grace your next printing project with these two infant cherumbim holding a title banner. A graphic illustration such as this would also look charming printed on a piece of sheet music with the title of a favorite hymn superimposed on top of the ribbon. Play around with it in Photoshop using a variety of fonts and colors.

For hard copy or web articles.

Here is the same motif, in burnished gold, adapted for web pages.

Description of Illustration: black and white and color cherubim banner for web pages

Have a question about the illustration? Just type it in the comment box and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I only publish content that is closely related to the subject folks.

"Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling"

      William Lamartine Thompson was a noted American composer, best known for his hymns, born on November 7, 1847 in East Liverpool, Ohio, died New York City on September 20, 1909. Thompson began composing in his teens and in addition to hymns, wrote the popular songs “My Home on the Old Ohio” and “Gathering Shells from the Sea.”

      Both a lyricist and composer, Thompson ensured he would always remember words or melodies that came to him at odd times. He said, “No matter where I am, at home or hotel, at the store or traveling, if an idea or theme comes to me that I deem worthy of a song, I jot it down in verse. In this way I never lose it.”

      He is best known as the writer and composer of the classic Christian hymn, “Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling.” It is thought to have been translated into more languages than any other hymn. It has been featured in the films The Trip to Bountiful, Junebug, and A Prairie Home Companion, in the Anne Tyler novel The Accidental Tourist, and the television series True Blood.

      The composer graduated from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio in 1870. In 1873, he attended the New England Conservatory of Music and later continued his musical studies in Germany.

      Rebuffed in an early attempt to sell his songs to a commercial publisher, he eventually opened the W. L. Thompson Music Company in East Liverpool. By the 1880s, it was one of the most prominent and successful such businesses in the United States. Thousands of music teachers and musicians ordered sheet music, instruments and other supplies from Thompson’s store. Thompson later founded a music and publishing company in Chicago.

      Thompson married Elizabeth Johnson. They had a son, William Leland Thompson (born 1895), who was known by his middle name. The couple built a large hilltop mansion on Park Boulevard in East Liverpool, Ohio and to this day, it still stands and known locally as “the Softly and Tenderly House.” (hotel)

      Because he took a strong interest in local history, Thompson paid for a large stone and tablet to mark the spot where Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his raiders were captured near Lisbon, Ohio.

      At the age of 62, Thompson fell ill during a tour of Europe, and his family cut short their travels to return home. He died a few weeks later in New York City on September 20, 1909.

Sara Groves sings the version of one of my favorite hymns,

 "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling"

More Links to “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling”

• “Softy and Tenderly” on the Dulcimer
• Rosemary Clooney sings “Softy and Tenderly”
• Johnny Cash sings “Softy And Tenderly”

Symbolic Preaching

A good example of symbolic preaching is afforded in the following descriptions of a sermon by a Chinese evangelist named LI, of Changsha, China on the value of the soul:

      Mr. Li began by describing a clock, without naming it, calling it dead and yet alive. He showed that it has all the parts of a living mechanism, but that this mechanism is dead; without two great essentials. The clock was then shown to the audience and they were led to see that a spring is the source of power, but that power must be applied to the spring before the mechanism does it's work.The preacher skillfully illustrated by these facts the importance of the soul, and the relation which it bears on the one hand to man and on the other to God. About twenty minutes were devoted to this illustration, after which the preacher quoted a number of texts from the Scriptures bearing upon the teaching of the value of the soul. G. E. Dawson, Missionary Review of the World. 

• The Value of a Soul by Mark A. Copeland
• The Value of Your Soul by Billy Graham and here on youtube the sermon
• The Value of the Human Soul, Just how Much Are You Worth? by Timothy S. Morton 

Since That Dear Hour by Cowper

Since That Dear Hour 
by Cowper

Since the dear hour that brought me to thy foot, 

 And cut up all my follies by the root, 

 I never trusted in an arm but thine; 

 Nor hoped but in thy righteousness Divine, 

 My prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled, 

Were but the feeble efforts of a child; 

 Howe’er perform’d, this was their brightest part, 

That they were offerings of a thankful heart; 

I cast them at thy feet, my only plea Is, 

what it was,–dependence upon thee; 

While struggling in the vale of griefs below, 

 This never failed, nor shall it fail me now.”

True and False Principles

But the word of the Lord endureth forever. 1 Pet. i. 25.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matt. xxiv.35.

TRUE AND FALSE PRINCIPLES.

Lo ! where amid the arctic regions, rise,
The Iceberg's turrets glittering in the skies,
Like some cathedral Gothic built, it rides,
Borne by the winds, and ever-shifting tides:
All shapes fantastic soon the phantom wears,
A palace now, and now a ship appears:
At length it drifts towards some southern shore,
When lo I 'tis vanish'd, and is seen no more.
Not so the Rock that rears its ancient head,
Its deep foundation's laid in ocean's bed;
All change resists, unalter'd is its form
Amid the sunshine, and amid the storm.
Unmoved it stands, and still 'twill stand secure.
Long as the moon, and as the sun endure.

      The Iceberg lifts its towering summit to the clouds, sparkling and dazzling, like a group of temples overlaid with silver. Its crystalline magnificence is bewildering; it forms one of the most, splendid objects that the mariner meets with in the northern seas, and at the same time one of the most dangerous. It is a floating mass without foundation; winds, waves, and currents bear it along in all directions. It assumes the most fantastic shapes imaginable : sometimes it looks like mountains piled on mountains; then temples, palaces, and ships are seen by turns; then again, cathedrals of every order of architecture appear to the eye of the wondering beholder. After, awhile it drifts out of the high latitudes into milder climes. It is carried towards the southern shores, the sun pours it's burning  rays upon the mammoth temple, turret after turret, spire after spire disappear, until the whole has dissolved. Its glory has departed.

      How very different is the nature and destiny of the Rock that is seen lifting its time-worn head above the surrounding waves ! It is probably as old as time itself; it retains its ancient position; it's foundations take hold of the world; it is marked in the charts, men always know where to find it, and are therefore not endangered by it. Changing the form of the element that surrounds it, itself unchanged, the summer's sun and winter's storm alike pass harmlessly by it. It is one of the everlasting hills, it must abide forever.

      The engraving is an emblem of True and False Principles. False principles are represented by the Iceberg. Like the iceberg, they are without a foundation; however specious, brilliant, and fascinating  their appearance, they have no solidity. Like it, too, they are ever-changing: their form receives its various impression from the ever-fluetuating speculations of mankind, and from the power and influence of the times. Like it, they are cold and cheerless to the soul, nipping all its budding prospects, cramping all its mighty powers. Like the iceberg, also, false principles will melt away before the burning sun of truth, and pass into oblivion. It will not do to trust them. Who would make a dwelling-house of the transitory iceberg?

      It is not so with true principles; although they may appear somewhat homely at first sight, yet the more they are contemplated the more they will be admired. Like the Rock, their foundations are laid broad and deep. The principles of truth rest on the throne of God, they are as ancient as eternity. Like the Rock, they may always be found. Are they not written in the Holy Bible? Like their Author, they are without variableness or shadow of turning, for,

"Firm as a Rock, God's Truth must stand,

When rolling years shall cease to move."

      Semper idem--"Always the same"--is their motto. Like the Rock of Ages, true principles live when time shall be no more. As are the principles, so are all who trust in them, for "the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." (Text)

A Christian hymn composed by Augustus M. Toplady
 in 1775. Sung in the video by the Antrim Mennonite Choir,
from their album 'Amazing Grace.'

Sunday Puzzles: Conundrums set one.

1. Where are balls and routs supplied gratis? --On the field of battle.
2. Why is a clock always bashful? -- Because its hands are ever before its face.
3. What parts of speech are shopkeeper most anxious to sell? -- Articles.
4. In what class of men are the finite propensities of human nature the most fully developed? -- In the aeronauts; they have reached a fine height.
5. Why are persons fatigued, like a wheel? -- Because they are tired.
6. When is a penniless state of things the cause of joy in a poor man's family? -- When bread is a penny-less per loaf.

Permanency . . . Just a Myth?

      "The first lizard possessed the snout of a dolphin, the head of a lizard, the teeth and jaws of a crocodile, the backbone of a fish, paddles like those of a whale and the trunk and tail of a crocodile, the backbone of a fish, paddles like those of a whale and the trunk and tail of a quadruped--a very monarch of the early seas. Kill or be killed must have been the rule of his life," says the great French novelist Currie. but it would seem that coat of mail worn by the tortoises and turtles was a better protection than the powerful claws and jaws of the fish-lizard, which was short-lived. The former are alive and flourishing to this day --the latter have altogether vanished. On the grave of John Keats are the words, "Here lies one whose name was writ in water." (Text)

As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer. Psalms 103: 15-16

Include Initial Letters in Your Next Publishing Project

One of many lovely initials from the Middle Ages,
restored for contemporary use.

OW consider illustrating a bulletin or newsletter with Medieval, initial letters. There are many resources for initial letters on the internet. I will include a couple of free samples from my new collection below for visitors to use in their hard copy publications and a listing of additional collections on the web at the end of this post.

      The classical tradition, according to Wikipedia, was late to use capital letters for initials at all; in surviving Roman texts it often is difficult even to separate the words as spacing was not used either. In the Late Antique period both came into common use in Italy, the initials usually were set in the left margin (as in the third example below), as though to cut them off from the rest of the text, and about twice as tall as the other letters. The radical innovation of insular manuscripts was to make initials much larger, not indented, and for the letters immediately following the initial also to be larger, but diminishing in size (called the "diminuendo" effect, after the musical notation). Subsequently they became larger still, coloured, and penetrated farther and farther into the rest of the text, until the whole page might be taken over. The decoration of insular initials, especially large ones, was generally abstract and geometrical, or featured animals in patterns. Historiated initials were an Insular invention, but did not come into their own until the later developments of Ottonian art, Anglo-Saxon art, and the Romanesque style in particular. After this period, in Gothic art large paintings of scenes tended to go in rectangular framed spaces, and the initial, although often still historiated, tended to become smaller again.

      In the very early history of printing the typesetters would leave blank the necessary space, so that the initials could be added later by a scribe or miniature painter. Later initials were printed using separate blocks in woodcut or metalcut techniques.

   "For a century after the invention of printing, (Johannes Gutenberg, 1439) the art of illuminating made steady progress; but from that time it began gradually to decline, anrated in chd although it still existed so late as the seventeenth century, it was rarely practiced, and almost wholly confined to religious and heraldic  books. The discovery of engraving on wood having quickly followed that of printing, the drawings of the time were copied and multiplied by this cheaper process. The progress, also, of the reformation, and other religious and political causes, having at the same time combined to withdraw from Art the patronage it had received in most of the countries of Europe for so many ages, the fashion of illustrating books dwindled in frequency, degenearacter, and ultimately ceased altogether." Henry Shaw

Here you can see three examples of initial letters used to decorate a page from an illuminated manuscript, a book describing the history and practice of using initial letters and also a page from an illuminated hymnal.

Initial Letter "A" from my new collections.
This letter was drawn by Albert Durer in 1499

Initial Letter "F" from my new collections

Description of Illustration: initial letters "F", "A" and "N" in color

Watch this professional calligrapher craft an initial letter,"F."

• Find even more medieval initial letters at http://art-imagery.com/
• Typolis (in German), DE.
• "Initials and Ornaments", Book Historian (photos) (in Dutch), Yahoo Flickr.
• "Alphabet & Letter", Reusable art (images).
• One Thousand and One Initial Letters by Owen Jones
• Lessons in the Art of Illuminating by Loftie

Have a question about the illustration? Just type it in the comment box and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I only publish content that is closely related to the subject folks.

The Reason for Short Posts

      "We are capable of believing, not only that we love books which we do not love, but that we have read books which we have not read. A lifelong intimacy with their titles, a partial acquaintance with modern criticism, a lively recollection of many familiar quotations--these things come in time to be mistaken for a knowledge of the books themselves. Perhaps in youth it was our ambitious purpose to storm certain bulwarks of literature; but we were deterred by their unpardonable length. It is a melancholy truth, which may as well be acknowledged at the start, that many of the books best worth reading are very, very long, and that they can not, without mortal hurt, be shortened. Nothing less than a shipwreck on a desert island in company with Froissart's "Chronicles" would give us leisure to peruse this glorious narrative, and it is useless to hope for such a happy combination of chances. We might, indeed, be wrecked-- that is always a possibility--but the volume saved dripping from the deep would be "Soldiers of Fortune," or "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch." Agnes Repplier, "Compromises."

And so the journey begins again . . .